§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many countries have ratified the European Council convention concerning the return of sentenced prisoners; how many have agreements with the United Kingdom; how many British citizens have been repatriated to prisons in the United Kingdom over the last five years to date; what discussions have taken place with each country to determine the principles of repatriation agreements; if he will list the main features of each such agreement; what arrangements exist to review them; if the receiving country may reduce the sentence imposed by another jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement; [41047]
(2) how many British citizens given prison sentences in America have been repatriated to prisons in the United Kingdom in the last five years, to date; what prior agreement was reached in each case on the sentence to be served in the United Kingdom; what principles were agreed in discussions between both Governments before repatriation procedures were agreed; what arrangements were made for reviewing such procedures; and if he will make a statement; [41084]
(3) if Her Majesty's Government reserve the right to arrange to vary any prison sentence set by an overseas jurisdiction in the case of any person legally repatriated to prison in the United Kingdom under international agreement; how many such persons in the last five years, to date, applied for such a variation to be applied; to whom such applications have been made; and if he will make a statement. [41085]
§ Miss WiddecombeThe Council of Europe convention on the transfer of sentenced persons has been ratified by the United Kingdom and 31 other countries. The United Kingdom and four other countries have ratified the Commonwealth repatriation scheme. The United Kingdom has also entered into a bilateral prisoner repatriation agreement with Thailand.
The principles of repatriation are set out in each of the three agreements, copies of which have been placed in the Library. The main features of all three agreements are that: repatriation requires the consent of both jurisdictions and the prisoner concerned; the prisoner's sentence is not subject to further appeal and has at least six months left to run, and the prisoner is a national of the jurisdiction to which repatriation is sought and the acts which gave rise 567W to the sentence would have constituted a criminal offence there.
The operation of the convention is reviewed by the European committee on crime problems of the Council of Europe. The Commonwealth scheme may be reviewed by the Commonwealth Secretariat. The bilateral agreement may be reviewed by either jurisdiction.
All repatriation requests are considered on their individual merits in consultation with the foreign jurisdiction. The United Kingdom has opted to conduct repatriation arrangements on the basis of continued enforcement of the original sentence. Under these arrangements, the jurisdiction responsible for administering a prisoner's sentence following repatriation is bound by the legal nature and duration of the original sentence. It is not therefore possible for the United Kingdom to vary or reduce the sentence imposed by a foreign jurisdiction. If, however, a foreign sentence is by its nature or duration incompatible with the law of the United Kingdom, the sentence may be adapted to a sanction prescribed in law for a similar offence. Any such adaptation must not aggravate by its nature or duration the sanction imposed by the sentencing state or exceed the maximum prescribed by law in the United Kingdom. Since 1990, the United Kingdom has conducted one repatriation of a British prisoner on the basis of the original sentence being adapted in this way with the consent of the sentencing jurisdiction and the prisoner concerned.
Between 1990 and 1994, 44 British prisoners were repatriated to the United Kingdom from foreign jurisdictions, including 11 prisoners repatriated from the United States of America. In each case, repatriation was conducted on the basis of both jurisdictions and the prisoner concerned consenting to the arrangements to be made for the continued enforcement of the sentence imposed.